Where Is Heaven?
by crbrgmi
Summary: Natsu is on a mission to find his father, but that mission is set aside when he finds a lost little girl, mourning the death of her mother.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. That honor goes to Hiro Mashima. Now, without further ado, please enjoy! :)**  
~.~

 **Where Is Heaven?**

The little boy huffed as he leaned against a large tree. He was so tired, so hungry. He had to find a place to stay, he knew he did, though he didn't like it. He angrily wiped at the tears threatening to fall down his cheeks, and he forced himself up to continue on his journey. Where was he going? He didn't know. He had only been to a single town so far, but he couldn't afford to stay there. There was nothing for him there. A town of silence.

His stomach rumbled angrily, and he placed his hand over it. It had been a month now that he had been on his own, but he wasn't so ignorant that he couldn't find himself food in the wild. He just chose not to. The more he sidetracked and tried to give in to needed comforts, the farther away his father got. Granted, he was pretty much walking around blind, with nothing to track - no scents, no visual evidence - he felt like he was being pulled in the right direction.

A flash of anger shot through him, and he couldn't stop a punch from hitting a tree that was innocently standing in his way. It had been a month since he was abandoned, but he refused to believe that his father left him out of lack of love. He was just out doing whatever it is that dragons do, granted it took longer than usual, but there was nothing he really should be worried about. Really, he probably should have just stayed where he lived. His father would show up, apologize profusely for being gone so long, reprimand the boy for fretting over nothing, and they'd go on with their lives together, just like before.

Yeah, right. His father knew him better than to expect him to just sit by and wait for the dragon to return. Within minutes, Natsu knew he had to go out and look for Igneel, and he didn't ignore the instinctual pull he felt in his stomach. He followed that pull, and he refused to stop anywhere until he either found where that pull was leading him, or until he found his father. It had been a month of wandering and he had found neither.

He growled as he caught scent of something delicious smelling. Meat. Possibly a rabbit, or a squirrel. It was a small critter, but it was enough to sustain his young body for the rest of the day, and probably until dinner the next day.

He crouched and sniffed the ground, allowing the aroma to lead him through the forest. Had the animal noticed his presence? He didn't think so. The scent wasn't that strong, but he followed it nonetheless.

He followed the trail for about ten minutes before the scent was becoming more prominent, and he knew he was close to his prey. It was just a matter of minutes before he would catch the critter, cook it with his magic, and eat his fill and be good to go until the next day.

He chuckled darkly at the expectation of a meal.

He froze. He wanted to continue to follow the trail, but a sound stopped him. He wasn't sure what it was, it sounded so quickly that he almost thought he imagined it. However, after a few seconds of sitting still, he heard it again. A small sniffle, so quiet and quick that, were it a normal person they would have missed it the first time, and not catch it the second time.

He licked his lips and stared at the invisible scent trail before him. He didn't want to miss out on his meal, but he couldn't ignore the curiosity that was piqued by the sound - there it was again! - which started to sound oddly familiar the more he heard it.

It sounded like a person. What could a person be doing in the middle of the forest? He wasn't aware of any town anywhere near where he currently was, then again, he wasn't very familiar with this part of the forest, either, so he couldn't be one hundred percent sure.

But that sob he heard just now was _definitely_ human. He jumped up to his feet and ran. He wasn't thinking about any possible danger he could run into, all he knew was that someone was crying, and wanted to help them. He ran passed a large tree, jumped over a root, but miscalculated where he would land, and he ended up tripping and falling on his face. There was a gasp and a shriek as his face skid across the dirt.

He groaned and sat up, rubbing his nose with one hand and clearing away the dirt from his cheeks with the other. _That was awesome, Natsu,_ he thought. _Just trip and fall on your face, what a klutz._ Repeating the words of his father made him feel better, and he took a deep breath before standing up and whipping his head around, looking for the source of the sound. Turning back toward the big tree, he froze. A small figure huddled in on itself in an opening at the base of the tree. He couldn't tell for sure, but it wore a dirt pink, frilly clothing of some sort.

He kneeled next to the little person, and could tell it was shivering.

"Hey," he spoke, not really thinking that his voice could cause any fear. He was only seven, how scary could he be? However, the person jumped, squealed, and pushed itself further into the tree. "Hey," he called again. "Don't be scared. I'm not gonna hurt you. Are you crying? What's the matter? Do you live out here? Do you have any food?"

As he was bombarding the person with questions, he moved closer, not thinking twice that, just because he said it shouldn't be scared of him, it was still scared of him. It raised its head and stared at him with wide eyes, causing him to freeze in place. It turned out to be a girl. She had dirty blonde hair, sticking out in all different directions, dirt patches covered her face, and the tear streaks didn't help the dirt any. If anything, they just made her face dirtier. What made him stop were her eyes, big, brown, terrified eyes that stared at him like he was going to eat her. He was hungry, but he wasn't going to eat a girl.

Most of all, she was shaking. He knew he had to cautious with her, so he sat down cross legged, and smiled.

"Whatcha doin' in the tree?" he asked. "Do you live here?"

The girl hiccupped, shook her head, and shifted so she was fully facing him, bringing her knees up against her chest.

"Well, if you don't live here, then what are you doin?"

She clenched and unclenched her jaw, probably deciding whether or not to trust him. He tried to make himself as unthreatening as possible, but he was raised by a dragon, so he didn't really know how to be completely unthreatening. He quickly jumped to his knees and crawled to her. She gasped and tried to push herself further back, but she couldn't get away. He was quickly coming upon her, and she had nothing else to do, until she screamed.

Natsu jumped, covered his hands over his ears, and used his legs to scramble out of the small space.

"Don't scream, ya dummy!" he called as soon as he was out of the tree. "Dragon ears are super sensitive to sound, ya know!"

The girl stopped. "Dragon?" It was a sound just barely above a whisper, but he heard it. He chanced a look into the hole, and smiled and nodded.

"Yup. I'm a fire dragon! The best kind there is." As he talked, he moved fully into the entrance, placing a thumb on his chest. "My hearing is how I found ya. My name's Natsu!"

The girl gulped and inched closer. "You don't look like a dragon," she squeaked. "Aren't they just big lizards with wings?"

Natsu puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms over his chest. "Calling a dragon a lizard is very unpolite, ya know."

The girl blushed and bowed her head. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to insult you, Mr. Dragon. You're just not what I expected is all. Please forgive me!"

"It's okay, I forgive you. Now, will you tell me why you're here, crying?" He knelt down, and the girl looked up at him, her eyes filling with tears again.

"I-I want m-my m-m-mommy!" she cried, throwing her head back and sobbing. Natsu jumped back, almost as scared as when she screamed at him. He wasn't sure how to stop a kid from crying, but he did remember his dad wrapping him in his big, scaly arms - or, sometimes his tail - when he cried. He didn't have a tail - yet - but he did have arms. He pulled the girl against his chest and patted her back, whispering, "it's okay," and "don't cry" over and over until she finally calmed down, wiping her nose against the back of her hand.

"Where's your mom?" he asked as soon as he was sure she was calm.

The little girl sniffed. "In H-Heaven," she whispered.

"Then let's go find her," he decided.

Naturally, Natsu had no idea where that was, but it had to be somewhere close. The girl looked too well fed to have been out alone for awhile. Without letting the girl say anything, he jumped up and pulled her up with him. He was taller than her, so he figured he must be older, but not by much.

"Now, which way is Heaven?" he asked, looking around. "I'll bring you to her."

"Are you dumb, or something?" she asked. When he looked down at her, she gasped and bowed her head. "I'm so sorry!" she apologized again. "I didn't mean that! Please don't be mad."

"Uhm, okay?"

"It's just, you can't just go to Heaven." She sniffed and fidgeted her fingers. "Do you know about Heaven?" She looked up at him, but he just shook his head.

"No, I've never been to this part of the forest before. Is it far? Why can't you go there? You should be able to get in if your mom is there."

For some reason, the girl felt compelled to comfort the poor boy. She reached up and patted his head, giggling as he jumped out from under her and gently swatted her. He scowled and flattened his hair.

"I like your hair," she said. "It's pink, my favorite color."

"It's not pink," he grumbled. "Do you want me to take you to your mom or not?"

She shook her head. "My momma passed away," she said quietly.

"She did what?"

The girl bit her lip as she looked up at him, willing herself not to cry as she clarified it for him. "My momma died." Her voice cracked at the end, and she immediately looked down and rubbed her face with her hand again. "She died and went to Heaven. I didn't want to be home anymore, so I ran away. But I'm scared out here all alone, and I wish I didn't run away. I want to go home, Mr. Dragon." She said everything in such a rush that, if he wasn't a dragon, he probably would have missed the whole thing.

He blinked at her, unsure of what to do. Her mom was dead? He glanced away. He almost knew how she felt. He didn't know his mother, so he didn't know if she was alive or not, but he did know his father. He knew his father was alive, he just didn't know where. Maybe he went to Heaven, too?

Sighing, he grabbed her free hand that was just resting at her side. She looked up at him and blinked, but he just smiled at her.

"I'll take you home," he declared. "I'm sorry about your mom, but I'm sure your dad must be pretty worried if you ran away." He remembered how scared Igneel had been when Natsu had wandered off one time, so he could only imagine how scared her father must be.

The girl swallowed, but cast her eyes downward. "Maybe," she whispered.

"It'll be easy," he promised, misunderstanding her reluctance. "I can smell and hear just about anything. I'm super strong, so if a monster pops out, I can handle it. I'm a dragon, right?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Okay, Mr. Dragon. I trust you."

With a nod, Natsu tugged her, and they started walking, following his nose, not once letting each other's hands go.  
~.~

"Wow," Natsu breathed. He stared up at the extravagant home, not believing for one second that she could live in such a huge building. "Either your family is huge, or you have a dragon hiding in there."

The girl sighed and shook her head. "It was just me and my parents, but now it's just me and my dad."

"Why do you live in such a big house?" He let her pull him across the lawn.

She shrugged. "It's what rich people do, I guess. I wouldn't mind living in a smaller place, maybe Daddy - "

"Why would you want to live in such a tiny house if you have all this running space?" He let go of her hand to run ahead - the first he's let her go since they first started their journey. "Hey, hey! Do you have food?"

The girl nodded and followed. "Yeah, I'll take you to the kitchen." She caught up to him, quickly taking the lead, and grabbed his hand. She led him to the side of the house where a small wooden door was, surrounded by bushes and trees. She pushed the door open, and Natsu was bombarded by warmth, and the most delicious smells he had ever smelled. It nearly knocked him off his feet had the girl not been holding his hand.

"Miss Lucy!"

The children jumped as a small, plump woman rushed them, grabbing the girl in a tight embrace. "I'm so glad you're home, child!" She backed up and inspected her. "You're not hurt anywhere are you? Oh my, you're a mess. A nice bath will clean you right up." The woman hugged her again, and it was then that she caught sight of the pink haired boy - who was too busy drooling as he stared at an apple on the counter. "And who's this?"

The girl strained to turn her head to look at Natsu. "This is Natsu the dragon," the girl tried to explain, but she was straining against the woman's large breasts and plump arms. " He helped me come home. He's looking for his dad."

The woman dropped the girl and made her way to Natsu, grabbing the unprepared boy, and letting him experience the embrace of absolute love that she had given the girl.

"You brought our Miss Lucy home!" she squealed. "You look positively famished, young man. What are you hungry for? I'll cook you just about anything your darling little heart desires."

The boy grunted and tried to get out of the woman's hold, but he soon gave up and stared, pleadingly, at the girl, who giggled.

"Miss Lucy, please go and quickly clean yourself up. Your father had been wondering where you've been. Make sure you go see him."

The girl stopped giggling and looked at the boy as he was promptly dropped and the woman started shuffling around the kitchen. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at her. He told her she had to apologize for running away, knowing that her father must have felt the same as his whenever he wandered off. The girl bit her bottom lip, and threw her arms around his shoulders.

"Thank you, Natsu," she whispered. Without letting him respond, she tore away from him and ran out of the kitchen, not once looking back to him.

The rustling in the kitchen stopped, and he looked up to see the cook staring after the girl.

"Poor Miss Lucy," the woman sighed. She turned back to the stove and resumed stirring. "Losing her mother absolutely broke her heart."

Natsu found a stool and hopped onto it, leaning his arms on the countertop. He watched the woman work, his mouth practically salivating at the thought of eating a warm cooked meal in an actual kitchen. He had scraps before, and he could only dream of what the food she was making for him would taste like.

"Thank you, again," she said. "How old are you, boy?"

"Uh, seven?"

"Only seven? Where are your parents?"

"I don't know. I'm actually trying to find my dad, right now."

The woman stopped and turned to him. "You don't have parents? Where do you live?"

The boy shook his head, not feeling the least bit disappointed, not like the woman seemed to be feeling.

"If you don't have any place to stay, you're welcome to stay here." She turned around and grabbed a few plates and bowls. "You'll have a warm bed, a job, a nice meal every day…" She set a bowl of soup and bread in front of him, and he devoured it in mere minutes.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, wiping the excess crumbs off his mouth with his arm. "I'm actually on a mission to find my dad, and I won't stop until I do."

"I don't know if I feel comfortable letting a seven year old boy out in the world on his own."

"I'll be okay. I'm a dragon, you know? I can handle anything." He crossed his arms over his chest for effect. The woman raised an eyebrow, to which he proceeded to point to the bowl he had previously cleaned, and shot a small flame into it. The woman jumped, and Natsu laughed. "See? I can use fire magic. I'll be fine on my own."

The woman nodded and handed him more food. "I see that you are. So you won't stay, even for a little bit?"

"It was my duty to make sure the girl got home to her father safely, and now it's my turn to find my dad."

"Too bad, Miss Lucy could really use a friend right now." But Natsu was too busy stuffing his face to have heard her.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in almost silence, as the cook prepared food, and Natsu ate it. She whistled as he nearly emptied her pantry.

"I know growing boys need to eat, but I've never seen a single child eat that much."

"It's because I'm a dragon!" He was really getting tired of reminding people of that fact. The woman chuckled.

"Of course you are dear. Now, since you've cleaned me out, I'll need to head to the market to make sure the master and the miss have a full dinner. Do you want to accompany me?"

Natsu nodded and hopped off his stool. "Maybe I'll find a lead to my father in town."

As she threw on her shawl and grabbed a basket she turned to the boy and gently placed a hand on his head. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? Just a few days?"

"I would love to, but I really need to find my father."

Sighing, she patted his head, and led the way out of the door. As they walked down the pathway, Natsu stopped and turned around, taking one last look at the amazing house he was leaving behind. It was so tempting to take the woman's offer. He would have a bed, food, and the girl did seem like she needed a friend. Nah, she'd be fine. There was no way a girl who was raised in that type of household was lacking in friends, and she still had her father, which was more than he could say. No, his first priority was to find his father, but, maybe after he'll come back to visit.

Someday, he'll see the girl again. That was a promise. With a wave to the big house - hoping that she might be looking - he turned and followed the woman down the road.

Natsu jumped awake. Rubbing his eyes, he arched his back, wincing at the various pops and cracks his back made. He had to remember to stop falling asleep on the table; his body just didn't seem to handle it like it used to. Yawning, he glanced around the room, taking in the familiar surroundings. Smiling, he leaned back in the chair.

"Oh, good! You're awake." Natsu turned to see Lucy walk from the kitchen with a tray full of food. "Just in time for dinner." Setting the tray on the table, she patted his head. "Eat up, Mr. Dragon."

He waited until she went back into the kitchen to start eating, though. She very rarely called him that, and it was times like that that he wondered just how much she actually remembered. He, on the other hand, remembered it all. He kept his promise to himself to meet her again - though at the time he had no idea that it was actually _her -_ but he was doubtful she remembered. It was only a few hours during a random day that was like a speck of sand in her busy life, and he wouldn't be surprised if she forgot about him the moment she left the room.

Sighing, he stood up from the table and made his way into the kitchen. He paused for only a moment to take in the sight of Lucy working at the sink, busily washing dishes while she hummed a happy tune. Without warning, he wrapped his arms around her waist. She jumped and dropped the pan, and he chuckled softly as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"N-Natsu? What are you doing - "

"You're welcome, Lucy," he whispered. He closed his eyes, thinking of the last time he saw her, running from him in that kitchen so many years ago.

"What are you talking about?" She was uncomfortable, he could tell, but that only made him smile wider. He opened his eyes and stepped away from her, shaking his head.

"Nothing. Hey, are you going to come join me or would you rather sit in here and clean while I eat everything?"

"What else would be new?" she asked, turning off the water and drying her hands. She wasn't really hungry, having had a snack before taking the food out to him, but she wasn't going to deny his invitation. He was acting strange, and she would get to the bottom of it. She wasn't sure what she had thanked him for - recently - but she was going to find out. She followed him out of the kitchen.  
~.~

 **AN: The End! Did you like it? Just a little cute one shot that I been thinking about. Actually, I kind of wanted to expand on it, turn it into an AU where Natsu stays instead of leaves, but I'm already working so many projects that I don't think I could juggle another one. Maybe, one day, but for now, this is all you get. Thanks for reading!**


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